Shunting arrangement and arrangement for removing cars from and placing cars on to the rails of suspension railways



Jan; 17, 1923. 1,656,589

F KRUCKENBERG ET AL I SHUNTINWARRANGEMEENT AND ARRANGEMENT FOR REMOVINGCARS FROM AND PLACING CARS ON TO THE RAILS OF SUSPENSION RAILWAYS FiledJan. 24, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet l Q Q Jan. 17, 1928. 1,656,589

F. KRUCKENBERG ET AL SHUNTING ARRANGEMENT AND ARRANGEMENT FOR REMOVINGCARS FROM AND PLACING CARS ON TO THE RAILS OF SUSPENSION RAILWAYS FiledJan. 24, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 17, 1928. 1,656,589

F. KRUCKENBERG' ET AL SHUNTING ARRANGEMENT AND ARRANGEMENT FOR REMOVINGCARS FROM AND PLACING CARS ON TO THE RAILS OF SUSPENSION RAILWAYS FiledJan. 24. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 //7 venfors M rLQ/QK Af/vrweys holdiu thePatented Jan. 17, 1928.

UNITED STATES I insane PATENT OFFICE.-

KR'tIflI'IENBERG- AIQTD CUBE STEDEFELD, OF Z-IEIDELBERG, GERL'IANYjSAIDsrnnnrnzc'n assrsnon ro SAID Kauoirnnsnne.

SHUNTING ARBANGEMIENT-AND Al'dRJ-IGEEVEEIQ'T FOR REMOVING CARS FROM ANDELAGING- CARS ON TO THE RAILS OF SUSPENSION RAILVTAYS.

Application filed January 24, 1925, Serial No. 4,570, and in GermanyFebruary 6, 1924:.

Cars running on railsare usually propelled by means of additionalvehicles (loconiotives, motor-coaches or the like), running on the samerail over switches, turntables or traverse-tables for thepurpose oftchanging the track, in order to reach workor repair-shops or for otherpurposes. lVit-h suspension railways all these angements are verycomplicated and involve large and costly constructions. lVhen thesuspension railway is used for high speed tratfic, with rapid sequenceof cars, the construction of such arran 'ements becomes eitherimpossihis or extraordinarily ditiicult, it they are to it'ulfill therequirements of such a high speed railway, namely that the rail shallhave a. running surface as exactas possible, without any unevenness atjoints, crossings or switches. v i

The principal object of the present invention is to provide meanswhereby the cars may be transferred to and from the suspension railswithout the use of the conventional rail switches or by otherwiseinterrupting thecontinuity or the rail surface. The use of such switchesis restricted to places where two main lines of track cross as in Fig. 1or here several branch lines converge, or the like.

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation view o1 one form ofour invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the arrangement shown in Fig.1; A

Jig. 3 is an end elevation of a crane arrangement and illustrates onemethod of transferring the cars to and from the'sus pension rails to thecar carrying tractors;

ins. l and 5 are plan and end views, respeclively, oi? another term ofour inven tion in which the car is shunted by means oi a crane mountedon an auxiliary traclc which is also mounted overhead;

Figs. 6, "I" rational views of another term of transfer- :cng meanscomprising an overhead crane; 9 is a side view of a. car fitted withauxiliary wheels for use in case the ordinary running gear breaks down;

Fig. is a side view of a device used for h suspension c0unter-wheels outotcontactwith. the suspension rail during the shunting operation.

lo the stations where the velocity of shunt- Ill 8 side, plan, and endels ing very small the special rail arrangements d and cl ot the highspeed track a can be replaced by normal switches,

crossings, joints and so on. If we can use the surface of the ground wecan lay the rails tri for the auxiliary shunting cars thereon or 5 canadvantageously be laid above the suspension rail on an extension of thegirderwork system. The shuntingrails 65 must be, in this case,constructed ina similarinanner to the suspension railway, therequirements however of the travelling motor crane 0 are not so exactingwith regard to space for runninggears, accuracy of switches, radius ofcurves and so on, as the suspension car 6 itself, so that the wholearrangement involves much less construe tional work, than is the casewith the suspension railways ct proper; In the case of the trausterencefrom thesuspension line to the auxiliary line, the auxiliary locomotivesc and 0 must naturally support the weight of the suspension car,whileremov ing itft'rom the rail. If the suspension car has only runningwheels 6, above the rail without counter wheels 7" below it, it would besuilicient tor the auxiliary rail to be raised shortly before the car isto be removed "from the rail of the suspension railwaybya ramp or thelike, so that the shunting locomotive c and 0, whichuntil now has onlybeen propelling the suspension car 5. lifts it free from its runninggear 6. If

these counterwheels f are used theyniust be moved downwards out ofcontact with the rail by some convenient arrangement, for instance, thatshown in Fig. 10, in order that the suspension car 6 be moved sidewaysclear of the rail. In order that the suspension car 6 may be handledbyfthe auXil without shock iary locomotives 0' and 0 it would be'advantageousto provide the latter for example, with a movable platform7 to lift the car up and down or a cranelilie arrangement 9" to lift thecar from above.

The break down of a car on the track with the high speed suspensionrailway is a so rious occurrence, becausethe whole train oi cars and alltrafiic must be held up while the disabledcar is either repaired orremoved from the track. or traverse-tables for the removal of the carsis. to be avoided, the car must be raised Sincethe use of switchesupwards and moved sideways out of Contact with the rail. This can bedone'as already described by means of an auxiliary shunting locomotive0', 0, which runs on rails belowthe suspension-car track a. If thesemethods are found to be too slow in operation, or if a normal railwaynot below or beside the suspension track, short; ramps can be arrangedat certain distances, where possible at signal stations or the like,provided with emergency platforms tor the passengers and on these shortramps can be run auxiliary cars very simply, for example, by a, winch,below the suspension car. The lat ter can then by means of: the ramp belifted clear oil. the rail, moved sideways and transported on a branchline to the nearest railway. Another solution for removing the.

car 6 at emergency depots, as shown for example in Fig. 6 (side view)Fig. 7 (plan view) and Fig. 8 (section), consists of a travelling craneit with a i'l'iechanism i for transferring the broken, down high speedsuspension car 7) to special cars it. Such lifting arrangements mustnaturally be constructed so that, if a normal railway runs below thesuspension track, they do not interfere with itisn'orkino' or with theother track of the suspension railway. If the driver has been unable tostop the broken down car b at an emergency station and it the ear isincapable of proceeding under its own power and if it is umilesirable touse the following car for propelling it. the nearestinspect-ion car(indicated by m in Fig. 3) running on separate rails on the suspensionrailway girder-work, can be signalled for, and can then tow the brokendown suspension car to the next emergency station. It the runninggear ofthe suspension car is so damaged, that is cannot move along the rail atall, auxiliary wheels n (Fig. 9) can very simply be employed, whichrunning on the suspension rail can support the weight ofthe car, whileit is moved along. If it should happen that the ear disabled onsoine'part of the track where it cannot be reached by any of the abovementioned auxiliary means, e. g. on long sus iension-ln'idges. the *armust be lowed by a rope until it can be reached by other auxiliarymeans.

In Fig. 9 a high speed suspension ear is shown to which are tittedauxiliary wheels a that enable the car (1 to travel along the rail, itthe running gears proper are so damaged, that they cannot be usedfurther.

Fig. 10 shows the means for holding the counter wheel out of contactwith the rail. The running wheel a is supported in a movable arin g, andthe counter wheel is supported in a movable arm 7. and the two arms areconnected with each other by a toggle-lever which is connected by a rod0 to a bell-crank lever 0. This lever can be turned by means of athreaded spindle a provided with a. hand-wheel n. It is obvious thatt-he arms I/ and r and with them the wheels 0 and 7' can be movedasunder by turning the spindle n" in the proper direction. the motionbeing then transmitted by the l)Ollt?l'lll1l{ lever 0 and the rod 0 tothe toggle-lever p.

\Vhat we claim is:

1.111 a slmnting arramrement: for high speed railway suspension carssuspended from continuous elevated rails by running gear, incombination, an auxiliary track disposed in proximity to said elevatedrails. tractors capable oi transporting said suspension cars mounted onthe auxiliary track. said tractors having transfer mechanism mountedthereon. so eonstruettul and arranged that the suspension cars nniy beattached to and detacluutl from the elerat t'd rails.

2. In a shunting arrmigement for high speed cars suspended lromcontinuous elevated rails by running gear, in combination, auxiliarytracks provided at convenient in-- tervals below said continuoussuspension raih tractors capable oil transpmiiup said SllSPQllrlUll ears.mounted on the auxiliary track, means for disconnectin said suspensioncars from the elevated rails and means tor transferring the suspensioncars to and from said tractors.

3. lo a shunting, arraiurement for high speed cars suspended fromcontinuous elevated rails. in con'ibination, ramps providi'al atconvenient intervals below said continue ous mt-ipcnsion rails andhaving an auxiliary track attached thereto, tractors mounted on theauxiliary i'ltltfli capable of transporting the suspension cars, saidtractors having supports lined thereto whereby the suspension car may belifted from or attached to the elevated rails by running the tractors onand oil the ramps.

-il-. in a shunting: arrangement for high speed cars suspended fromelevated rails by running gear comprising suspension wheel-1 and counterwheels which bear. respectively. on the upper and lower surfaces of saidelevated rails. in eomhimit'ion. mechanism to! lifting the cars to andfrom said elevated rails. and me.-iir-= 'l'or nniintaininn the ernlnlelwheels tree from contact with the rail: durinn the lilting operations.

a. A shunting]; device tor a high speed ear suspended 'l rom continuouselevated rails by running gear, comprising auxiliary suspension wheelsmounted on said rails. ear supporting, means depending from the snsiension wheels, and means attachable to the car. whereby the car may hesupported trout and more along the elevated rails by said auxit iarysuspension wheels.

in testimony whereof we a'llix our sigma tin-es.

F It A XZ K. R UCKE N 1% ii ll (i. Clil 't'l STEDEFl-Qldl ill]

